The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You S3 Ep 4
Idols are huge in Japan. J-pop may not have the same reach as K-Pop, but it’s got its fair share of fans, especially among us weebs. But it’s also a grueling and unforgiving environment that will set you alive! But as long as you have a good support system, then it can be just fine, as the Rentaro Family finds for themselves!
It all starts with Hahari being inspired by this insurance commercial about how you only live once. So on a whim, she decides to throw a spring festival (it’s forever spring!) Unfortunately, the week before the festival, the idol group she hired gets injured while rehearsing, so she asks the Family to cover. It’s the start of the idol arc!
Idol Life Sucks
First rule about being an idol, though: it sucks. The coach Hahari hired is brutal, pointing out how only half of them (Nano, Mei, Mimimi, Iku, and Karane) are able to perform. Hahari, Hakari, and Meme are weighed down by their boobs (two words: sports bras)! Kurumi keeps getting hungry! Shizuka, Chiyo and Kusuri are just bad at dancing, and that’s not even getting into the singing. So the coach is at the end of her rope, and resorts to the cutthroat nature of the idol industry.
I haven’t watched Oshi No Ko in its entirety, and I have no real interest in doing so. But if some of the things that they show about how cutthroat showbiz is in Japan, then this is the norm. Hell, the coach experienced that herself when she had to leave her friend in the lurch. But this is a romcom, not whatever genre Oshi No Ko is. So when the good half is asked to bail on their friends, they all refuse and tell her to get lost. So, Rentaro becomes their coach because he’s such a CHAD!
And then comes the day of the festival when the family is supposed to perform. They sing and dance their hearts out for their boyfriend, but it turns out that idol coach decided to get even. She brought that injured idol group to the festival to sign autographs just to spite them all, which is a horrible thing to do. Good thing Rentaro and Uncle Hiro came prepared with dummies of themselves. And Rentaro sent out flyers that brought a bunch of supporting characters there to watch.
Full disclosure: I have no idea what separates a good idol performance from a bad one. I don’t really care that much as long as the songs are good. But even so, I’m glad that Rentaro got all those people there to watch them perform. Even the idol coach is moved by how hard they’re trying to perform, and in the end, the performance is a huge success.
So much so that the Rentaro Family is actually scouted by a famous music producer who thinks they’ve got the gift and wants to turn them into an actual idol group. And the anime makes it seem like there’s going to be this big arc ahead of us…but it doesn’t happen.
I Think the ‘No Romance’ Thing is Real
The second rule of being an idol: no romance allowed. And this is actually a real thing. The idol business in Japan and Korea insists on their idols being relationship-free to maintain an image of purity and…oh, who am I kidding. They do it because they know that more people will be fans if they can hold onto the fantasy of dating them.
They don’t even hesitate to walk away, LOL. Besides, a ton of them are probably going to be famous anyway one day.
By the way, it should be noted that the anime has skipped over a bunch of manga chapters about one-off misadventures the Rentaro Family gets up to. So I’d recommend that you go give it a read. Plus, there’s also a spin-off about their actual families.
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